Canada's main stock index jetted skyward on Monday, with commodity prices getting a lift on hopes that Europe will unveil fresh measures to tackle the region's growing debt crisis.
The S&P TSX Composite Index began the day and the week up 263.89 points, or 2.3%, to 11,725.95
The Canadian dollar advanced 1.15 cents to 96.97 U.S. cents.
Last week, worries about Europe carved about 400 points from the main Toronto index.
Canadian stocks to watch include uranium miner Cameco Corp. , which said it is backing out of a bidding war for Hathor Exploration after Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tinto sweetened its bid to $654 million.
Cominar Real Estate Investment Trust plans to buy units of Canmarc REIT it does not already own, in a deal that values the latter at $1.07 billion.
Bombardier Inc.’s train unit received a contract to make railway equipment for India's Mumbai Railway Vikas Corp.
Imperial Oil Ltd. and the federal government have resumed talks over a financial support package for the Mackenzie gas pipeline in the Far North, but Imperial would not say if it was any closer to proceeding with the $16.2-billion project.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange hiked 30.38 points to 1,535.52, while the Nasdaq Canada index jumped 13.21 points to 384.90.
All 14 Toronto subgroups were in the green to begin Monday. Metals and mining captured 5.9%, global base metals spiked 5%, and energy stocks surged 3.7%.
ON WALLSTREET
The markets rebounded strongly from last week's steep selloff as a record start to the important holiday shopping season, combined with positive developments on the European front, lifted traders' spirits.
The Dow Jones Industrials leapt out of the blocks to gain 307.77 points, or 2.7%, to 11,539.55
The S&P 500 grew 36.43 points, to 1,195.10, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 84.94 points to 2,526.45
After falling more than 500 points, and close to 5%, last week, the blue chips have made a stark turnaround. Retail, financial and energy stocks posted the biggest gains out of the gate. Both financial and energy shares took some of the sharpest selling last week.
Despite an unemployment rate that is stuck above the 9% and slow economic growth, American shoppers came out in force on Thanksgiving weekend -- seen as the kickoff of the key holiday shopping season.
Retailers raked in $52.4 billion U.S. in sales over the weekend, according to the National Retail Federation -- representing a 16.4% surge from last year. The average shopper spent $398.62 U.S. from $365.34 U.S. the year prior, the trade group said.
A large swath of retailers posted big gains in early trading. Electronics giant Best Buy and department store Macy's were among the big retailers to perform the strongest. Analysts are also expecting strong results on so-called Cyber Monday, in which online retailers generally offer their steepest discounts. Indeed, Amazon.com the biggest online retailer, was up sharply as well.
Market participants were also keeping close tabs on the situation in Europe, where leaders are racing to stem the region's worsening debt crisis. Euro zone leaders, led by Germany and France, are working on a plan to force tighter fiscal integration in the 17-member currency bloc that could be passed by December and implemented early next year, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal.
Officials believe the plan would potentially be able to skirt a time-consuming change to the European Union treaty, and could pressure the European Central Bank to make a much stronger intervention into the bond market, the report said.
Several countries, such as Italy and Spain, have seen their bond yields, and therefore borrowing costs, soar, raising the specter that they may require international assistance if action isn't taken to keep the yields in check.
The economic calendar is fairly light on Monday, with a report on new home sales on tap for 10:00 a.m. ET. Economists expect sales to have ticked lower by 0.3% in October from the month prior.
The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury faded, with the yield bolting to 2.05% from 1.96% from Friday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions
Oil for January delivery perked $2.56 to $99.33 U.S. a barrel.
In metals, gold leaped $25.60, or 1.5%, to $1,714 U.S. a troy ounce.
